Military Factions
In the wake of the Earth-Pluto War, the lines between ally and enemy have become ever more blurred. While Pluto retains a number of mercenary forces loyal to its banners and Earth itself has been rapidly rebuilding its fleets, many of their own military corps were quick to break away during the war. Old icons mean little when they are borne by pirates, privateers, free traders and vessels claimed by the Genji alike. Many factions simply ceased to exist in the wake of the war, with many Saturnine vessels aligning themselves with the remaining corporations powerful enough to earn their loyalty, and AEGIS wavered in the face of civil war. These are but a few of the forces which now prowl the Sol System. Earth Expeditionary Defense Corps Decades before the war, the public exchanged hushed, paranoid rumors about lawlessness in the off-world colonies spanning from Earth to Mars. L4 and L5 was right next to Earth, relatively speaking, and Earth's Orbital Patrol was still unable to prevent it from becoming a breeding ground for criminals. When the topic of establishing colonies beyond the asteroid belt was broached, popular opinion was divided in two: one side was ambivalent, preferring that criminals do all their criminal activities several AUs away from where they live, and that it would be nearly impossible to operate a remote colony without any legally sanctioned support from the terrestrial planets anyways. The other side was staunchly against it, believing that it would allow criminal operations to grow and flourish unchecked. With public fear and corporate lobbyists supporting them, Earth founded the Expeditionary Defense Corps, consolidating the Orbital Patrols of Earth and Mars, and granting them authority over all activity outside of the terrestrial planets' atmospheres. Their primary duties were to find criminal activity, apprehend suspects, and extradite them to the terrestrial planets where they could face trial, or at least a colony close enough to provide a trial by satellite-feed. They were given cutting-edge technology and gear, even more advanced than the militaries of Earth, partly for practical reasons and partly for PR, and Mars' relatively weak infrastructure at the time meant that the entire Martian Law Enforcement Agency was eventually absorbed into the EDC. When colonies got as far as Uranus, the EDC was experiencing logistical issues with being stretched so thin. By the time colonies reached Pluto, their presence was practically non-existent. Pluto and all the moons between it and Mars were considered terrestrial authorities, but communication with the inner planets was weak and sporadic. The Plutonians demanded a charter to form their own law enforcement agency to run more efficiently without the red tape of planets up to 50 AUs away. Earth granted them this, and the Pluto Custodium was founded, officially a subsidiary of the EDC. Unbeknownst to them, this was a major step forward in Pluto's self-sufficiency and eventual separation from the inner planets. When War finally broke out, the EDC's militarization became complete, and they became the primary branch of operations in the space outside Earth, Luna, Mars, and Venus, vastly outnumbering the defensive forces on planetside. Terrestrial Defense Force Since the dawn of civilization, Earth-dwellers have always drawn borders and conflicted with one another. This applied well into the Space Age, with scientific progress being continually hamstrung by Earth-based politics and economics. If it weren't for the involvement of Megacorporations, Earth would never have established colonies on Luna and beyond. The need to stem criminal activity in L4 and L5 led to the formation of the Orbital Patrol, a task force put together that would outlive the union of nations that put it together. Earth nations continued to cooperate through gritted teeth, holding back colonization through petty political grievances and legal actions When news of the uprising on Pluto reached Earth and the EDC forces sent to apprehend those responsible were shot down, Earth was devastated. Pluto gave an ultimatum, which threatened not a nation or a people, but all of Earth and its colonies. Earth had no choice but to prepare for a counterattack. And so, in a historical ceremony, all of Earth's nations signed a document that decreed they turn their guns upward, away from each other. For the first time in the history of sapient life, a global ceasefire was enacted, and Earth's nations were truly unified against a common enemy. All of Earth's pre-existing military forces became divisions of a single army, and the Terrestrial Defense Force was born. Astronautical Strategic Warfare Service There was never a practical reason to build up a space-minded military before, but with the prospect of all-out war on the horizon, suddenly Earth's government needed to quickly put one together. Every nation had several proposed plans for a space-based combat fleet in the past, and Earth suddenly had to file through all of them to determine the best course of action. The winning bid went to a European plan that focused on a large fuel depot that would launch manned vessels that remained within close proximity, firing unmanned drones. The modular ship designs also allowed highly-specialized soldiers to be loaded in the event of boarding actions. In the era before genetic engineering, these soldiers had their legs amputated and replaced with augmetic "space legs" to minimize their body mass. Since combat presented too wide of a variable to accurately calculate a vessel's Delta-V, they had to remain within return range of the fuel depot at all times. Astral Marine Corps As Earth's new military was being set up, the only existing purpose for infantry was planetary defense, and the ASWS soldiers were only set up to operate in space. Defense is much more logistically simple than offense, but to prevent a war of attrition, they needed plans for offensive action. And so the Astral Marine Corps was founded, specializing in forced entry on highly defended targets, such as colonial and station boarding offensives and planetfall operations. Pluto Chthonic Guard (Pluto Custodium) (TBC) Confederation of Free Agents (Yellow Jackets) (TBC) Independent AEGIS Even as Earth’s population began to stretch out from their homeworld in an age of wonder and exploration, fear dominated the minds of even the most optimistic colonist. After so many decades of disastrous first contacts and exploitation among their own species (and thanks in part to the resurgence of the “alien invasion” genre in Hollywood five years prior to the first FTL launch) many feared the potential of fleets of advanced alien warships learning of Earth. Even as those more knowledgeable in the subject argued against such a concept, Earth Alliance politicians preyed upon such fears with promises of creating a “Solar Defence Taskforce” should they come into power. This naturally succeeded, and the end result was AEGIS. While created more to placate the general public than as a serious defence, the organisation was still funded well enough to have multiple planet bound listening posts throughout the colonies. Often undermanned and serving as little more than a possible early warning system, many commanders were left to build up resources however they saw fit to fortify their bases and even upgrade their own vehicles. It’s now well known that the famed Hellcat assault walker was the result of AEGIS’ Oberon R&D sector, and the organisation remained one of the few to retain a full scale Sol communications network. As the war broke out, many of AEGIS’ officers found their loyalties conflicted, with Pluto’s own detachment quickly siding with the planet’s new government. As Earth then tried to push back, demanding that the supposedly neutral force spy upon local colonies, the organisation broke away from their control. Maintaining neutrality for the most part throughout the war, barring the occasional act of humanitarian assistance, AEGIS as a whole survived relatively unscathed. Ironically for all its efforts to avoid becoming embroiled in the conflict to dominate the system, this left it in a prime position to exert its control. While lacking fleets of ships of its own and a substantial military, as one of the few widespread non-corporate organisations, it rapidly evolved into the closest thing the system had to a true police force. Despite its initial effectiveness and apparently outwardly heroic appearance, the organisation has suffered over the past years. With a general breakdown in the overall command structure, what was once a truly organised force is now little more than a loose linked alliance. Both underfunding and a lack of resources has also seen many commanders quietly taking to the black-market with very curious deals, notably a widespread demand for certain obscure technologies and even living broods of dangerous Siphonovores. Exactly why is a question none have yet dared to ask.